Fast Takes with Fast Break: Washington v Boston

Authors: Riley Hodder & Ben Mertens

PC: MLQ

MLQ must have been reminiscing about years past when they decided that the Washington Admirals vs. Boston Forge this weekend would be the series of the week. Traditionally, the Forge and the Admirals series meant a clash of two powerhouses in the East division. This year, things are a bit different. The Admirals lost some key players that has certainly made this regular season a bit more difficult for the East-coast team. And while Boston has certainly experienced their fair share of losses, it seems that their gains have made up for them, and they’ve had a fairly successful season.

However, if this season is anything, it’s a season for upsets. Boston took a game off New York, and the League City Legends took the series from Austin, so clearly nothing is impossible in this league. This means if Boston doesn’t want to be the focal point of MLQ’s next episode of Punk’d, they’re going to have to prepare in hand for the Admirals. And it means if Washington has anything, they have hope.

For the last 3 years, Washington-Boston has been perhaps the most closely contested rivalry in MLQ. The series has gone 2-1 every season, with Washington winning in 2021 and 2023 and Boston winning in 2022. This year, that status appears to be in doubt. Boston enters the matchup as a bona fide title contender; they eviscerated Charlotte in their season opening series then lost a narrow 2-1 series to the New York Titans, bringing Josh Jonhson’s “18-0” declaration to an early end. That performance was all the more impressive as Boston made good use of its depth, got key contributions from young players, and was not even at full strength: Sena Morimoto, one of the best young chasers in the sport, will make his season debut this weekend against Washington. Boston looks set to reclaim its place as a championship favorite and should be rounding into form just in time.

Washington, meanwhile, facing a much discussed exodus of talent, started the season with a 0-3 loss to New York that was one-sided for most of the proceedings. Despite the adverse start, new head coach Colin Bourn and his troops restored order with a convincing 6-0 homestand against Ottawa and Charlotte. While Washington did not dominate Charlotte to the same degree Boston did, they took care of business in every game, winning game 1 by a large margin, game 2 by 3 goals and a flag catch margin, and coming up with a clutch grab to seal game 3. Despite that stirring performance, Washington enters this series as a sizeable underdog. Is there any reason to believe they can pull off another upset of their northern rivals?

Look closely and you’ll find that there is. Washington has unlocked something by switching chasers Juli Nuetzel and David Littleton to beater, trading a bit of their impressive chaser depth to gain more veteran talent at the beater position which was where Washington struggled against New York. It’s where Washington will need to overperform against Boston to have any chance at all. An often overlooked story in Wahsington climbing to parity with Boston in the post-covid era is that Boston has been unable to play Max Havlin and Lulu Xu in any of those matchups due to a variety of injuries; this year, Boston has the GOAT beater pair (cope and seethe Austin fans) healthy and available. Boston boasts the luxury of having Kieran Collier and Leeanne Dillman, who have proven equally if not more deadly, as a second pair, and have strong depth behind them in Erin McCrady, Tom DeMouth, and Will Andrews. 

For Washington to hang in this matchup, they need their beaters to rise to the challenge. Washington has been able to win this matchup without dominating the beater matchup—simply playing Boston’s beater core even has allowed Washington’s chasers to carry the day. That will be the path again this weekend, and it starts with Adrian Koretsky. Koretsky, who was once cut by the Forge, has emerged as the young superstar the Admirals have been waiting for, and the team needs them at their absolute best. Koretsky is extremely familiar with the Forge beaters from their time in the Northeast, is one of the best catchers in the game, and has a rocket arm. Whether alongside Colin Bourn or Rob Rice, Koretsky has headlined the best beater pairs for Washington all season, but they will need to hit an even higher level for Washington to win this series

If Koretsky and co. can neutralize Boston’s beater Hydra, Washington has a chance. The dirty secret about this Boston team (and their New York rivals) is they have not been especially physical this season. Washington boasts physicality top to bottom, with every chaser who plays major minutes able to lay a strong hit. If Washington can force Boston to beat them with drives instead of shots and passes, Washington can turn this into a low scoring grind-it-out contest that favors the scrappy underdogs. This is a series where the Admirals may wish to consider breaking out a trees zone to prevent Ian Scura and Athena Mayor from ripping shots. Make this a halfcourt series and the Admirals, who have a sneaky strong seeking game, can win.

The trouble, however, is that this is not likely to be a halfcourt series. Washington has a ton of talented offensive players with shooters like Shane Mcconaghie and Julia Rankin, drivers like Riley Starrs, and scary offball threats like Zan Siddiqui and Liz Stone. At their best, they have displayed admirable cohesion between their chasers and beaters to create easy goals. But they have also turned the ball over too much, and struggled against New York’s press attempts, something Boston should also break out this weekend. Given those factors, Boston is likely to generate far more transition opportunities than their opposition, and that could be the decisive factor in this series.

Ultimately, despite the Admirals improvements, and while we can expect at least one game to be closer than outsiders may anticipate, expect a Boston victory to lock the Forge into second and set up the Admirals as an extremely dangerous play-in team at MLQ championships. 

Against the Titans, Forge brought out solid half-courts that demonstrated athleticism, inter-positional communication, and advanced level of strategy. If you’re looking for a series like that again, I think it’s safe to say you’re not going to get it. While in the past Washington has been a big hurdle for Boston’s regular season, they’re facing a weakened version of the Admirals who were demolished by the Titans in the first week of the season.

If you’re tuning into the series of the week, instead of sitting on the edge of your seat for next-level strategy and nail-biting games, you should be watching for the unfamiliar faces. Who is Boston trying to get experience before champs? Who are the up-and-comers in the Northeast? Who are the players to watch?

One name that might not be so unfamiliar is Sam Magner. The chaser, who plays on Purdue during the USQ season, made her MLQ debut this season. While Magner didn’t get many minutes against the Titans, they did play a pivotal role for the team against Charlotte. And it’s hard not to draw eyes when you’re the star of MLQ’s latest vlog series Shots by Sam.

There are several other newbies to watch take the pitch this weekend. Ethan Dillon has been rostered again, and had six goals, four stops, and an assist against the Titans. Luiza Nicolae of Harvard hasn't had the chance to hit the field this season due to injury, but that will certainly change this weekend.

Another huge question mark for Boston Forge comes in the form of Sena Morimoto. The keeper for the Warriors hasn’t made his Boston debut yet, but last year on the Kansas City Stampede, Morimoto finished out his season with 21 goals, 20 assists and 8 stops over 12 games. However, the 18 turnovers he racked up while on Stampede may make Forge hesitant to put him on the pitch.

And that brings us to our prediction for how this weekend’s series is going to end up. While our prediction might not be representative of an intense series, a match-up of two championship-contenders, that by no means this isn’t a series worth watching. The Washington Admirals have a chance to show how much they’ve grown throughout the season this weekend and to show that while this season hasn’t been their strongest, they are by no means not on the rise. This weekend, Boston needs a strong showing if they want to have solid footing heading into champs, and they might just use this as an opportunity to get their newer players a chance to prove themselves.

So, at its core, this series is about the future. The East is all but wrapped up, but the postseason, and the seasons of the future, hang in the balance for these two teams. Will they prove themselves, or will they not? We’ll have to wait and watch to find out.

Prediction: 3-0 Boston